In a post on the HTC Vive blog last night, credited only to "Vive Team", HTC has finally addressed the complaints, after accusations of silence from disappointed customers.

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They write, "We understand that multiple issues have arisen in the past two days and we are working hard to resolve them as quickly and efficiently as possible. We appreciate your patience as we identify these issues and work to solve them. This post will serve as the bulletin board for known issues and their solutions. We will update it as frequently as we can in order to keep you informed on our progress."

However, many of the points HTC make seem contrary to the experiences those who had preordered the hardware are having. In response to the accusation that PayPal orders are being processed ahead of those made by credit card, HTC said "Both credit card and PayPal orders are currently shipping. There is no difference in order fulfilment based on the payment method used."

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This is despite an overwhelming number of people tracking their launch problems on Reddit finding the exact opposite. HTC attempts to explain this discrepancy, saying "PayPal payments are made immediately at the time you order, but shipment occurs according to the order in which all orders were received. Credit card payments will place a temporary hold on the funds until your Vive has been shipped."

It's awkward phrasing, but essentially seems to mean that because credit card orders place a hold on payment until purchases are actually shipped (this would be the case for most online retailers, not just for the case of HTC Vive), and PayPal transfers funds immediately, the latter "jumps the queue" almost. If that is the case, the real problem is in how HTC is processing its orders – prioritising by "payment complete" status rather than time an order was placed.

HTC vice president of VR, Daniel O'Brien has acknowledged the disconnect on Twitter, saying "there were a small number of orders at the beginning of April that were processed out of sequential order. This is corrected."

HTC has also acknowledged "there were some inconsistencies in our communication. We have taken the steps to align all messaging moving forward."

The launch problems are also impacting Vive's own success. According to tracking data on SteamDB, there are only a tiny number of people playing Vive games. Space shooter Elite Dangerous is by far the most successful, and even that has so far only had a peak of 18k players, while the worst performing has had one. Not one thousand – VRMinecraft-alike Chunks appears to have a peak of one single player, making it clear it's in everyone's best interests for HTC to correct its payment and supply problems.

Update 13/04/2016 @ 9:45am: The SteamDB data referred above flagged ​Chunks as having only one player. This was likely in error, as the game was not officially released until 12 April. However, several games have recorded peaks of ten or fewer players.